Abstract :
With around 50,000MW of wind power generation installed globally, most of the issues relating to connection of individual projects are now well understood. The three key distribution network issues that determine how much generating capacity can be connected to a distribution network are voltage rise, thermal limits and, to a lesser extent for wind, fault levels. Innovations are underway to reduce the impact of these problems and improve the utilisation of traditionally passive distribution networks for generation [1,2]. The key questions under discussion now are how do large wind energy penetrations affect networks, power systems, markets, and current transmission practices? How can these be developed and evolved to accommodate wind energy? This is particularly pertinent in liberalised regulated networks where wind energy is the first technical paradigm shift since liberalisation took place The issues of high wind penetration in power systems are not new. There have already been successful small systems running on high penetrations up to 100% wind power [3]. This paper considers the key issues being discussed in the industry and gives some examples to show the relative importance of different issues and how the real problems can be addressed.
